07 January 2013

Hello! I thought I would drop on by again to share with you these little flower pot fairies I made my youngest. She received them for her second birthday, and now, almost 6 months later, they are still a favourite of hers, and her big sister. They were so easy to make with a little time!

I picked up jumbo sized wooden peg doll bodies and wooden candle cups to use as pots at the craft store, I found both in the woodworking section.

When I tested the peg dolls in the pots, most of them fit easily, but a couple stuck. Aside from wanting them to fit nicely, I didn't want them to have their paint scraped off, so I rolled up a piece of sandpaper and gave the inside of each pot a light sanding. It didn't take much for all the dolls to have plenty of room.

I painted the dolls with non-toxic outdoor acrylic paint, (Deco Art's Patio Paint, for example, although we have a variety of brands and they work just fine, too.) I have found its "weatherproof" qualities to be fairly "child-proof" as well. The faces are also painted, and when putting faces on gnomes and other small things such as these, I use a toothpick. Really. It makes life so much easier. It gives me more precision and control than the finest of my most teeny tiny paintbrushes, it's terrific. To make things easier on myself, though, I outlined the rest with a fine tip Sharpie. The Sharpie works well when used on top of the paint, but will bleed all over the place when used directly on the wood, so if you go that route, watch the edges. I wasn't sure it would hold up, but after half a year of hard use, it still looks great.

I painted the rims and insides of the pots using the same acrylic paint, on the outside I used a watercolour wash. I then sealed the cups and dolls by rubbing vegetable oil into the wood.

I gave each fairy a little cap that I cut out of craft felt and hot glued in place. I added the dots in the middles of the flowers with more acrylic paint.

This toy set has been adored by both my two year old and my four year old. They love sorting them, stacking them, matching colours, mixing colours, playing with the fairy dolls, using the pots as cups for their tea parties, and more. I gave them to her in a pretty little green bag, and they are a great take-along toy. It turns out that I spent less than $5.00 to make one of their all time favourite toys. This makes me very happy, as well as them. :)

I'm a stay at home Mum, raising two little girls in Western Michigan. Trying to keep every day full of wonder, excitement, and learning. We want to share the ways we explore and celebrate our fascinating world through art and investigation.